Conservative Christians and Suicide

Since the suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, I've been thinking about suicide and its causes. I've spent some time googling statistics. I'll share a few things I've learned.

Here are some facts about suicide and guns.

• Firearms account for over half of all suicides. (Source: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention)
• Almost two of every three gun deaths is a suicide. (Source: Every Town Research)
• Of those who attempt suicide with a gun, nine out of 10 die from the attempt. (Source: Every Town Research)
• Of those who attempt suicide without a gun, fewer than one in 10 dies from the attempt. (Ibid)
• Most of those who survive a suicide attempt do not attempt again. (Ibid)

One of the most surprising things I learned is this: More than half of people who die from suicide did not have a known mental health condition. (Source: CDC)

I had assumed that the correlation between mental illness and suicide would be much higher. I don't know that I expected it to be 100%, but I definitely expected it to be much more than half, not less than half. Even so, mental illness correlates to death by suicide very strongly.

LGBQ teens are almost 3 times as likely as straight teens to attempt suicide (Source: CNN). We don't have numbers for transgender teens. However, transgender people are almost 10 times more likely to attempt suicide than the general public (Source: USA Today). LGBTQ teens who experience family rejection are 8.4 times more likely to attempt suicide than LGBTQ teens who do not experience family rejection (Source: American Academy of Pediatrics). We don't know much about death from suicide among the LGBTQ community because sexual orientation is not part of a death record.

Religiously unaffiliated are more likely to attempt suicide. (Source: American Journal of Psychiatry) 

I didn't find any studies that broke that out by atheists, agnostics, ex-Christians, ex-Muslims, etc. I would be very interested in learning more about that. This article is a very interesting read on the suicide problem among atheists. Below is an excerpt.

So, what I learned is that suicide is very complex. There is no easy predictor. There is no easy way to discern the warning signs. There is no antidote like a vaccine to prevent suicide. It's a messy problem that usually begins with a messy situation and then leaves the family behind in a messy situation. Suicides are rising at an alarming rate, and there is no easy way to fix it.

So, what is a Christian response? I believe that conservative Christians should take a long hard look at themselves. I believe that the church, especially conservative Evangelicals, should consider how their politics, theology, and behavior may be contributing to the problem of suicide. Yes, it's uncomfortable, but we must look at ourselves.

The strongest correlation to death by suicide isn't mental illness or substance abuse or sexual orientation. It's access to firearms. People with access to firearms are 3 times more likely to die from suicide (Source: Fox News). How can we who claim to be pro-life also be so pro-gun? I have never understood the conservative Christian obsession with guns and the second amendment. It's baffling to me how one can claim to follow the non-violent Jesus while loving guns. Every time a school shooting happens, conservative Evangelicals resist any discussion of gun control laws. Since neither of the high profile suicides last week were by a firearm, gun laws didn't hit my social media news feeds. But gun control should be top of mind any time we want to talk about ways to decrease suicide deaths. Gun control is an obvious way to reduce suicide deaths in America.

Second, many conservative Christians have a tendency to stigmatize mental illness. I've heard things like, "He doesn't have a mental illness problem; he has a sin problem." I've heard advice given to mentally ill people that they should pray more. Prayer is good and helpful and powerful. However, it is not a simple fix for mental illness or depression. Often, professional counseling and medicine are needed to control, not cure, mental illness. And sometimes, even this only helps marginally.

Also, consider how conservative Christians treat the LGBTQ community. Ostracizing gay people is common in conservative Christianity. Many conservative Christians teach and practice rejecting and cutting all ties with gay members of their family. I have witnessed family ostracism of an LGBTQ family member first hand. It's painful and ugly. How many simply pretend to be something they're not to avoid ostracism? I've already noted that family rejection dramatically increases the risk of a suicide attempt in gay teens. This "Christian" ostracizing of LGBTQ family and friends is a contributing factor to the higher rate of attempts in the LGBTQ community. Christians must reconsider how they treat LGBTQ family members and the entire LGBTQ community.

And finally, consider the higher rates of suicide attempts among the religiously unaffiliated. I've heard Christians use this statistic to tout the virtues of Christianity. I've heard this statistic used to argue that all men crave God and those who refuse to believe have nothing but emptiness and that's why they're more likely to attempt suicide. More likely, the lower suicide rates among Christians is more likely attributed to the fear of hell. It's good that the suicide rates are lower for Christians. We should be thankful for that without being arrogant and patting ourselves on the back for having gotten this religion thing correct. We need to be considerate also.

Consider that many atheists, especially in the South, are ex-Christian. And as such, often their Christian family and friends have abandoned them. I know several atheists with this experience. All the ex-Christian atheists I know didn't arrive at their position overnight. They carefully studied and arrived there through much grappling with science and Scripture. They're sincere. I disagree, but I respect the courage to grapple and to do so with integrity. Sadly, I've watched Christians patronize and belittle atheists, calling April 1 "National Atheists Day" while quoting Psalm 14:1. Then, there's the oft repeated and patronizing phrase that atheists hate to hear, "I'm praying for you." 

Here's an example of how not to talk to an ex-Christian atheist.

To be clear, I'm not blaming Christians for the increased suicide rate. I'm simply asking us to examine ourselves and see if we need to change our theology, attitudes, politics, and behavior to be more helpful in bringing light and love to people and see if we can contribute to helping the problem of suicide. According to the CDC, isolation, access to lethal means, stigma associated with seeking help for mental health, and religious affiliation are all risk factors for suicide. Let's not isolate our LGBTQ friends and family members. Let's not isolate our atheist friends. Let's end our obsession with guns. Let's end our stigmatizing of mental illness. And let's draw people to relationship with Jesus in loving ways. All of these things will contribute positively to reducing suicide risk factors.